1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates reclining mechanisms for vehicle seating assemblies and, more specifically, to manually operated reclining mechanisms.
2. Background Art
Vehicle seats normally include a seat base and a seat back that are connected by a reclining mechanism that allows the seat back to be positioned to accommodate different body types and the personal comfort of seat occupants. Reclining mechanisms for vehicle seats permit the seat back to pivot to allow a passenger to recline or incline the seat.
Manually operated reclining mechanisms have a locked position in which the seat back cannot pivot and an unlocked position in which the seat back can be pivoted. The reclining mechanism is manually moved from a locked position to an unlocked position. Full engagement of the reclining mechanism must be assured in the locked position after adjusting the reclining mechanism.
Reclining mechanisms must meet or exceed performance specifications and must be simple for customers to use. The components of reclining mechanisms must be manufactured to close tolerances to assure acceptable performance. Components that do not meet tolerances requirements for components may lead to inconsistent results, unacceptable levels of scrap, and other manufacturing problems.
Recliner mechanisms generally include a gear plate and a guide plate that rotate relative to each other. Both plates may be formed of metal in a fine blanking operation to meet the required close tolerances. The gear plate and the guide plate may create a scraping noise when the recliner is used to adjust the position of the seat back. The scraping noise is caused by metal-to-metal contact between the gear plate and the guide plate. If the guide plate has a bearing surface proximate the gear teeth of the gear plate, there is a substantial likelihood of a scraping noise being created by the guide plate coming into contact with the gear teeth.
Reclining mechanisms are crash tested to verify performance of the mechanism. Manual reclining mechanisms include locking elements that are biased into engagement with the teeth of one of the gear plates by a spring to hold the seat in a desired orientation. The seat is adjusted by shifting the locking elements into a disengaged position in which the locking elements do not engage the teeth and then moving the seat back to the desired position. One criteria for crash testing of such reclining mechanisms is that they should not permit disengagement of the locking elements in the test.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the above problems and other problems that are addressed by this invention as summarized below.